The present invention relates generally to the field of streaming content delivery to a mobile device. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system and method for providing in-stream events to a mobile device receiving stream data over a wireless network connection based on information provided by the mobile device.
Video content events may be provided to a wireless network enabled mobile device for playback in any location where a wireless connection is available. The video content events may be chosen from a wide variety of sources and specifically chosen by the user of the device. The video content events may optionally be configured to include overlay interactive content events as further described below. Where a user desires a video content event tailored to their particular interests, for example, a tourism video related to their current destination, the user must browser through all of the available video content to find the video specific to their interests.
Video advertising event time, using both traditional media such as television programming and non-traditional media such as mobile devices connected to a wireless network, is typically sold using a standard model. Advertising space is purchased and advertisements are presented along with the feature content as either pre-roll (played before the video programming content, post-roll (played after the video programming content), as interstitials (played at specified periods during one or more breaks in the video programming content), and/or as interactive overlay allowing for content to be displayed overtop video content during playback.
Further, a sales agreement may not specify the particular time that an advertisement is played. Instead, an agreement between the advertiser and content provider may determine generally when and how frequently the advertisement is presented. The advertiser may further provide a desired audience profile to which the advertisement should be displayed to target the most receptive audience.
Using mobile network devices, the amount of data that is available for determining which advertisement is best suited to a particular viewer has grown significantly. Exemplary data may include detailed user profiles, user location information, user activity histories, user purchasing histories, user location, etc. Any number of advertisements may be appropriate at any given point dependent on the particular selection criteria being implemented and the information that is available.
However, traditional advertising as described above requires regeneration of the programming content that is being streamed over a wireless network. Even when preformatted for advertising, the preformatted content could not be easily adapted for particular advertisements. Requiring regeneration of the content is time intensive and is generally not adaptable to rapid changes that may affect the advertisement that should be provided at any given point.
What is needed is a system and method for customizing video content and for providing in-stream event insertion points within the video content to present advertisements. What is further needed is a system and method for allocating a number of advertisements events to an insertion point, where the displayed advertisement(s) will be selected from the advertisement events based on available mobile device information at the time of advertisement display.
It would be desirable to provide a system and/or method that provides one or more of these or other advantageous features. Other features and advantages will be made apparent from the present specification. The teachings disclosed extend to those embodiments which fall within the scope of the appended claims, regardless of whether they accomplish one or more of the aforementioned needs.